Discusses the need for science programs to teach students to use both analytical and creative pathways of inquiry. The first step toward this goal of integrating thinking must be to strengthen the ability to collect both objective and subjective sensory information. Lists teaching practices to accomplish this, such as accepting that the process is…

Presents a study that introduces data logging using portable computers as part of an investigative approach to science. Working with control and experimental classes of 14- and 16-year-olds, results suggest that data logging can have an impact on graphing skills at age 14 which is not necessarily repeatable at age 16. (Author/AIM)

Describes a comparative study project where seventh grade students tested water samples from 10 cave sites that had been tested 24 years ago in a study that had attempted to determine if pollution in the environment had reached cave water. Discusses lab skills and some results of the study. (JRH)

Presents nine science activities to help students improve their thinking and problem solving skills. Activities cover the science process skills of classifying, ordering, space-time relationships, inferring, predicting, and elaborating. (MKR)

Analyzes nine high school biology manuals to determine how well they promote the basic and integrated science process skills that are involved in scientific inquiry. Results indicate that the manuals seldom enable students to use their knowledge and experience to pose questions, solve problems, investigate natural phenomena, or construct answers…

Presents a set of activities for testing consumer products to encourage students to learn how to use scientific investigations in their everyday lives. Describes the penny flip experiment and testing a detergent. Students learn in a hands-on manner the importance of completing accurate laboratory reports, which allows them to analyze results and…

Presents an activity that investigates the reflections on a mirror. Focuses on the relationship between a person's height and the mirror's height. (YDS)

Introduces a PBS science television series called "Dragonfly" which presents students' own experiments and investigations. Describes the content of the TV program including examples of investigating waterslides, rediscovering rivers, and ocean explorations. Includes suggestions on how to use DragonflyTV in classrooms. (YDS)

Discusses the importance of observation in science education, how to foster students' observation skills in the classroom, and how to facilitate what they observe when learning. Includes a list of components of good scientific observing. (KHR)

Introduces two trade books that can be used as an instructional tool to promote scientific thinking and science process skills among children. (YDS)

Uses the metaphor of a three-legged stool and how each leg serves as a specific function to describe the balance in science teaching, especially for elementary-level students. (YDS)

Presents activities that use the learning cycle to engage students in meaningful inquiries in the study of Mendelian genetics. Includes content-related background and teaching tips for each phase of the learning cycle. (JRH)

Outlines an approach to the problem of over- or underquantification for students by teaching science as a process of collecting, organizing, and analyzing data that naturally integrates with mathematics. (MKR)

Explains how games can be used to stimulate interest and aid conceptual understanding. Focuses on working with Year Six children and simulation exercises designed to support understanding of feeding relationships and food chains. (DDR)

Reports on how science teachers might work to improve their students' use of science process skills in ways that will contribute to their meaningful learning during laboratory activities. (Author/WRM)